Day 3

Up and Down, Round and Round

David Harding
Provisional results on www.pooleweek.org
Photos on www.SailingScenes.com

Up and down, round and round: that pretty well sums up where the boats were going on the Tuesday of Poole Week, and what the wind was doing too. 

Most of the fleets had ‘up and down’ courses (principally upwind/downwind with a few variations), while others had ‘round and round’ – which, in this case, meant around the islands in the south-eastern corner of Poole Harbour (Brownsea, Furzey and Green).

It was the turn of the Flying Fifteens, Wayfarers, slow handicap and XODs to enjoy (or endure, depending on their point of view) the around-the-islands experience. The XODs did a fair bit of ‘up and down’ between Parkstone and Sandbanks first. Then they headed up South Deep and followed the channel all the way round, passing Pottery Pier on Brownsea’s western end before re-joining the main part of the harbour.

Around the islands is where the wind does its up-and-down and round-and-round bit as well. Statistically, the south easterly was pretty consistent in both strength and direction, blowing at 14-18 knots from between 125° and 140° nearly all afternoon. In these southern reaches of the harbour, however, with narrow stretches of water between tree-lined shores, it’s impossible to guess where the next gust is going to come from and, in an easterly, anything can happen. On Tuesday it was by no means uncommon for a boat that was in a healthy position heading up South Deep to look much less healthy by the time it reached the north-west corner of Brownsea.

Among those to emerge in good shape was XOD 91, helmed by John Tremlett, whose second win of the week puts him at the top of the table, tied on 4 points with Roger Yeoman. Another leading boat in its fleet to survive the deep south unscathed was the Mirror of Neil Davies, who stayed close enough to Rosie Keats in her ILCA 4 (Laser 4.7) to take the win by 10 seconds. Richard Whitworth and Jack Bowen in the Flying Fifteens found more ladders than snakes as well, scoring their third successive bullet to take a healthy lead in the overall standings. Ian Zimmerman and Mike Barton were several places further back on the water but, with so many Fifteens having been recorded as OCS, they were lifted to 2nd, with Geof Gibbons and Dave Moy just behind them.

The remaining two fleets that started from the Parkstone Platform stayed to the north of Brownsea. In the Dolphins, Giles Vigar and Douglas Clarke led the fleet home. At the other end of the speed scale, the cats were whizzing around with one hull in the air much of the time. Having finished 2nd to the Hobie 16 of Mason Green and Ollie Duvalle in the first three races, Geoff and Liz Sherwood were quick out of the blocks and sailed away to score their first win of the week.

The harbour’s Top Triangle was where the fast handicap fleet, RS200s, ILCA 6s and ILCA 7s were to be found. Dave and Jan Pointer won in the 200s, Jon Heissig and Nicky Griffin sailed their RS400 to victory yet again in the fast handicap fleet, and it was Alan Davis’s turn to assert his authority in the ILCA 7s. 

The real battle was in the ILCA 6s. This is a fleet in which Poole Week has witnessed some family rivalry and close finishes in previous years, especially between members of the Jackson family from Dragon Bay Sailing Club in the Cayman Islands. Rob (father) is competing again this year, sailing an ILCA 7 (full rig) rather than a 6 and without his son Will to push him along. Making a move the other way, from an ILCA 7 to a 6, is Andrew Hartley. It’s a move that means he’s now racing against his wife, Roberta, who has long been at or near the front of the ILCA 6s. Strangely enough, these two worked their way to the front of the fleet in the second race on Tuesday, with Andrew about 75 yards ahead at the final windward mark. A hole in the wind on the top reach of the trapezoid course allowed the pursuing fleet to close right up, and Roberta then used her downwind speed to establish an inside overlap at the gybe mark. You don’t have many options as the outside boat when that happens, so Andrew had to follow his wife across the line for a hard-fought second place in one of those ‘if only’ races. 

With the top six boats separated by just 4 points, the ILCA 6s are shaping up to be one of the most competitive fleets in this year’s Poole Week. Battle continues on Wednesday, in winds that look set to be lighter but still from the south east. Who’s going to be moving up and down on Day 4? We’ll know in 24 hours’ time.